Madhavi Shankar

Madhavi is no stranger to university life, having launched a very successful app focused on digitalizing the student experience. She grew up in Bengalaru, India and moved to Australia to study a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Engineering Management at University of Technology Sydney between 2012 and 2017. She says she had already fallen in love with Sydney when she came across UTS. “It was ahead of its time being very well set up with majors in line with my interests.”

Her international student experience was beyond what she had expected. She particularly like the integration of the international student community with Australian peers, and developed connections through peer-to-peer student help sessions. Her only regret was not studying entrepreneurship as part of her coursework. “Studying this at UTS would have been a great value-add.”

After working for an early-stage startup with only two or three employees at the time, Madhavi was hooked. “I saw the entire journey – growing, raising money, getting acquired…and I wanted to do it on my own.” She returned to India knowing she was passionate about the education space, but couldn’t put her finger on the niche she could fill until she did her due diligence. “I figured out that the use of technology outside the classroom was minimal, and that universities were undertaking the same operations but all doing them manually. This problem could easily be solved by technology.”

SpaceBasic was born, and its suite of products now automates a lot of the workflows that universities use to manage student life – from campus accommodation to student catering, IDs and payments. The data is provided back to universities so they can optimize their operations.

The company now has over 100,000 daily users, and one percent of its profits go towards educating women, as uplifting women in the workforce is a cause Madhavi feels strongly about. She challenges universities to create the right conditions:

Madhavi continues to be one to watch: in 2019 she was named one of the Top 30 Women Transforming India by the Indian Government and the United Nations, and in 2020 featured as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 Asia.

Her advice for budding entrepreneurs? “Solve a real problem, conduct thorough due diligence, and always validate your product with your customers and potential customers. Most importantly, trust your gut and don’t give up!”